Google, Facebook drive gains in mobile advertising

WASHINGTON — The market for mobile device advertising doubled in 2013 to $17.9 billion and is on pace for strong gains this year, led by Facebook and Google, a market tracker has said.

The research firm eMarketer said on Wednesday mobile ad spending increased 105 per cent last year and is expected to jump another 75 per cent in 2014 to more than $31.45 billion.

Facebook and Google grabbed the lion's share of the increase in 2013. Google remained far ahead of its rivals, but saw its market share dip to 49.3 per cent in 2013 from 52.6 per cent in 2012, eMarketer said.

The biggest gains came from Facebook, whose market share jumped to 17.5 per cent from 5.4 per cent a year earlier.

Twitter also saw strong gains but its share was a modest 2.4 per cent from 1.5 per cent in 2012.

For 2014, eMarketer sees Google at 46.8 per cent, Facebook at 21.7 per cent and Twitter at 2.6 per cent.

The huge growth in mobile ads show why these companies are concentrating on their mobile platforms.

According to eMarketer, just 11 per cent of Facebook ad revenues worldwide came from mobile in 2012, but last year, that figure jumped to 45 per cent and the figure will be around 63 per cent this year.

Google is expected to get a third of its ad revenue from mobile this year, up from 23 per cent in 2013, the report said. — AFP